


Paper, Flowers

by cynicallywritten



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Abuse, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Florist AU, Homophobia, Illnesses, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Male Homosexuality, Mentions of Starvation, Minor Character Death, Past Abuse, dw there's a happy ending, flower meanings are kind of important for this story, god i miss yuwin, i've been wanting to write this for SO long y'all don't even know, sicheng has some resurfacing bad habits, uhh yuta gets kicked out
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:41:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25375606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cynicallywritten/pseuds/cynicallywritten
Summary: Yuta hates flowers. They're colorful eyesores with secret meanings like some sort of ancient language. He doesn't get what's so great about them. So when his sister falls ill and his only way to earn money for her treatment lies in a botanical nightmare known as a flower shop, he's not super psyched. But, after meeting a reoccurring angry customer, a secret backroom, a fresh grave and small bouquets that keep showing up at his door, Yuta thinks, maybe there might be more to flowers than their outward appearances, and more to the store manager's son that just being a flower boy.(Maybe they're both more fragile than they realize.)
Relationships: Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Nakamoto Yuta, Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Qian Kun, Huang Ren Jun/Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin, Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung, Kim Jungwoo/Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee, Lee Taeyong/Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten, Moon Taeil/Suh Youngho | Johnny, Park Jisung/Zhong Chen Le
Kudos: 2





	1. Daffodils

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello! uhm so this is my first au/fanfic on this website, but if you're here from wattpad you might recognize me from my username (gosh that's from a while back what a cringefest)! uhmmm i'm honestly really nervous because i'm not sure how well this will do and who knows if i'll have the drive to finish it but honestly i've been wanting to write and finish this for SO long and it's been a fic/fic idea that always seems to come back to me after a while so i figured i'd try :)  
> \- r

It’s been a year and a half since Yuta nearly died.

“Yuta. You dozed off for a little, you okay?” Johnny asks from beside him, having shaken him awake. Yuta is dazed, and not fully processing his words. His head is a little fuzzy, and his vision is not fully adjusted to the stale yellow classroom lights. “Hey, you okay?” Taeyong repeats Johnny, and Yuta is finally snapped out of his thoughts, coming out of it with a slight startle that resembles a jolt of energy. “Sorry guys, I was...nevermind,” Yuta remembers the bloody images in his head. “Anyways. What are we doing?” “No, talk to us, it’s okay. It was about your parents again, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Yuta doesn’t like talking about his parents. He doesn’t even like thinking about them. But, somehow, his brain hyper fixates on one detail from the last day he saw them. The colour of the walls, the carpet, the lipstick his mother was wearing, and the colour of his dad’s cheeks after he’d had one too many bottles of beer that night.

**Red.**

All of it was red. The walls were, after his blood splattered against it, the carpet was too after his blood pooled on the ground. His mother’s red lipstick and father’s flushed cheeks both paled in comparison. And the red, it was all over his sister as she dragged him out of the house while he slipped out of consciousness.

“Yuta?” “-Sorry. I’m fine, I just...don’t feel like talking about it right now.” “It’s okay. You can talk to us whenever you need to though, okay?” Taeyong says, and both him and Johnny look at their friend with concern. “You guys say that all the time,” he replies in a half-joking tone. “Making sure you don’t forget,” Johnny adds, giving Yuta a small pat on the back.

Yuta smiles genuinely, despite his inner flashes of memory.

It was the night of October 26th, of his 18th birthday, that Yuta decided to come out to his parents. They never paid much attention to him, as his sister Yoko was the prodigy-child. That day was no different. They forgot about the occasion and left Yuta to celebrate alone. He stayed up late and waited for his parents to come home, as well as his sister who was back from university for the time being. He wanted to tell them as a last ‘fuck you’ for not caring for the last 18 years of his life. A last ditch effort to get them to look him in the eye, under any circumstance.

They did. Then he never saw them again.

He never got mad at Yoko for being the favorite. He never even blamed her for anything In fact, his sister had been his rock for the whole ordeal. She had gotten him out of his parents’ care, moved him into her small 1 person apartment and nursed him back to health after it all happened. From that point on, she swore that she would take care of him.

But he can’t help thinking that he messed a lot of things up for her. She was well-loved by his parents, clearly their favorite, even before all of the ‘experimentation’ and arguing that ignited the animosity between him and his parents. She was doing her 2nd year of university when everything went down, and stopped to take up work to support both of them.

He’s glad she was there though. He’s not sure what he’d be doing without her. He’s not sure if he’d still be alive.

The first month was hell. His pain was unbearable, and they didn’t have the money to get him proper medical care. All they had was Yoko and her basic knowledge from studying medicine for a little more than a year. He still feels lucky to have survived. Once his wounds got better, he started dealing with his deteriorating emotional state. He hates thinking about that time almost as much as he hates thinking about his parents.

Once he entered college and met Johnny and Taeyong, life got a little bit easier, and the weight on his back a little bit lighter. They were his light, his reason to wake up every day. They stayed by him, even after all the breakdowns and bad, bad days. Even after only a couple of years with him they knew his ins and outs, and he knew theirs. He hadn’t felt as loved by anyone else but his own sister.

He loves and appreciates them more than they could ever understand.

“Sorry for the interruption, but can Nakamoto Yuta, please make their way to the office. Thank you.” He almost didn’t register his name coming through, until his friends told him to hurry up and get going. “I’ll send you my notes later, don’t worry about class for now,” Johnny told him as he rushed out of the room.

His steps through the quiet halls still filled with students and teachers with half-finished lectures felt like pelting raindrops, an awkward and slightly eerie calm before the storm he felt brewing in the pit of his stomach that he didn’t quite understand.

When he arrives at the office, his eyes catch a glimpse of potted daffodils by a secretary’s desk. She was a new secretary, replacing one who’d finally retired after working with the school for forty-something years. The daffodils looked well kept, but starting to wilt. What a shame.

They directed him to a partially secluded part of the office, to a phone hanging on the wall, unhooked and held by one of the vice principals– or something. It looked like they’d been waiting for him, as he was promptly handed the phone. “Hello?”

“This is Seoul General Hospital. Is this Nakamoto Yuta, brother to Nakamoto Yoko?” He nods before realizing whoever was on the other side can’t see him, to which he blurted a small and forced ‘yep’. The pit in his stomach grows. “Your sister collapsed at her workplace, and was sent here. She’s currently stable–” Yuta drops the phone without hearing the rest and runs to catch the next available bus to Seoul General.

The pit in his stomach keeps growing. There’s a gaping hole of questions eating away at his mind. He feels slow and heavy with worry. It feels hard to swallow.


	2. Hollyhock

Taeyong and Johnny called him after he didn’t come back to class. He didn’t answer.

Yuta can barely contain his worry when he’s directed to his sister’s room. Seeing her put a smile and act like she’s alright only makes him worry more. “What happened!?” Her smile falters. “I just overworked myself, I’ll be fine. I’m sorry for making you worry.” Yuta’s hands form fists at his sides. “You just overworked yourself?! Don’t give me that-” His fists tighten as he takes a deep breath, regaining his composure. “I’ve known you forever, sis. it won’t be easy to lie to me like that.”

It’s now Yoko’s turn to take a breath. “I wasn’t lying. I did overwork myself but-” She stops herself, looking to Yuta for a reaction. He seems calm, like he’s waiting for the rest of the story before he decides how to feel. She’s always appreciated that about him. “-but I think one of our parents had something that I inherited, that messed me up more than usual I-” Another breath, shakier. “I don’t really know, I didn’t really get it when they explained it. It’s all...so confusing to me too, okay?”

Yuta stands, thinking. He’s trying to process his sister’s words. He isn't sure whether to feel angry or sympathetic, and both emotions clash in him like lightning. He isn't sure what to feel, how to react, all he knows is that he needs to ask- "Are you going to die?" Yoko knows where this is going. "No no no Yu, I'm going to be fine, okay? I just need surgery, and I'll be fine, okay?" "But where are we going to get the money for that?" "Don't worry about that, okay? I'll figure something out, like I usually do," Yoko says, to calm him down, which doesn't work as well as it usually does. "Not when you're like this," he rebuts, quickly shutting the whole thing down.

"I can find a job," he quietly suggests. Her face is full of anger and worry as she looks at him. "No. I can handle this on my own, you don't need to worry about anything. That's final," Yoko has never liked handouts. She was set on dealing with whatever it was she had, but Yuta was also set on helping her. What was that saying about the unstoppable force and the immovable object?

"I'm getting a job and helping you pay for the surgery, and that's final too. I mean, I owe you a big one after...the thing." Neither of them like talking about the day Yuta came out to his parents. "You don't owe me anything, Yu." "Then can I do it out of the kindness of my heart? As your little brother?" She sighs, knowing that the unstoppable force that was Yuta, won today.

"If you can find a job by the end of the week, you can help me. But you better not overwork yourself too," she half-jokes, laughing dryly. It was a Wednesday, he had about three days. "...Okay. I'll do it. I'll see you later," Yuta says, at the door, his face holding a certain determination. "Yu, wait," Yoko stops him. "If you don't find one, I know a place." "What? If you knew a place, then why don't I just-" "It's a flower shop. I know how much you dislike them, but...just think about it, okay?" Yuta felt hesitant, but agreed before he went on his way.

Why did it feel like he'd have to agree?

"Hey, Yuta! You alright?" Johnny asked as him and Taeyong approached Yuta after school the next day. "Yeah, you never answered our calls, we got kinda worried." Yuta smiled at the two of them. "I'm fine. Can you two help me find a job?" He asks, getting straight to the point. "Yeah, but what's with the sudden need?" Yuta gave them a random excuse, and while they didn't fully believe it, they agreed to help him.

"I know a few places that are hiring, if you have your resume ready, we can swing by right now!" Johnny exclaims, putting his arms around Taeyong and Yuta, who were on each side of him. Yuta leaned into the touch, feeling Taeyong's caring eyes on him. "Yeah, I'd like that. Thanks guys." He really doesn't know what he'd do without these two.

"Hey Hendery!" Johnny called out as he and his friends walked into the mellow cafe. "Welcome to WayV Caf- Johnny! How's it been? I haven't seen you in a while," Hendery greets, walking over and hugging the tall Korean man. He glances at the two standing awkwardly behind him. "Who'd you bring?" Johnny lets Taeyong and Yuta introduce themselves to Hendery and vice versa, before talking over again. They learn that Hendery moved to Korea from Macau and opened up this cafe.

"You see, Yuta's actually looking for a job, and I remember you telling me-" "Oh Johnny, I'm sorry but we just hired someone new yesterday." As if on cue, a man slightly shorter than Hendery walks in wearing the cafe's apron over top a green shirt and jeans. "That's our new kid Xiaojun," Hendery tells them, waving at the man. As Xiaojun waves back, he catches sight of the other three, waving at them too.

"Well, we should keep going, I know a place too," Taeyong says as the three get to the door, bidding farewell to their new acquaintances Hendery and Xiaojun. "How do you two know so many places hiring?" Yuta asks out of curiosity. "We don't, we just know a lot of people who own these places," Taeyong says with half a chuckle. "C'mon, let's go."

After walking up and down several streets, talking to managers and handing over copies of his resume, Yuta and his friends end up at his favourite cafe, Star Blossom. "-So you're looking for somewhere to work? Sorry I can't help you there, Sejong already hired a new guy last week," Doyoung explained with a frown.

"It's okay. Who's the new guy?" Taeyong asks curiously. Doyoung groaned. "He's right there," he points to a spot with a man sitting alone at a two person table. "We work during different shifts but he always comes to see me during his off." Doyoung sighs, turning back to making a coffee.

"He's sitting alone at a table for two, it kinda looks like he got stood up," Johnny jokes. "Yeah, he got stood up by me," Doyoung jokes back. The four laugh. "We'll leave you to it, go get your man Doie," Taeyong tells him as the three leave.

Yuta gets a good glance at the man as they walk out. He has a small bouquet of just-about blooming hollyhock with him, wrapped in pretty paper laying on the table. He assumed it was for Doyoung, which was a cute gesture.

"Jaehyun, you shouldn't have come," Yuta hears Doyoung say behind him, his tone soft but scolding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh wow we actually got to chapter two (after so long haha)! for anyone that's actually reading i want to thank you so much, and here's to hoping i actually release another chapter :'D  
> \- r


End file.
